Because of his political activism in Rhode Island to reform the Department of Children, Youth, & Families (DCYF), Nicholas Alahverdian was sent to faraway places like Nebraska and Florida where he was beaten, tortured, raped, and persecuted. Nicholas Alahverdian survived being allowed to contact no one in exile from ages 16 to 18 when he was sent to ill-equipped facilities that had grand jury indictments issued against them and were closed by their respective states before and after his admission as a result of severe abuse and neglect occurring in those facilities that contracted with Rhode Island DCYF.

All of this, because state government employee Nicholas Alahverdian was a whistleblower who would not tolerate governmental corruption. People lost their jobs at group homes, shelters, and at the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth and Families. Contracts were ended. Group homes were closed. Yet now the state has an even higher rate of abuse and death under its current governor — a 1,450% increase since taking office four years ago.

Nicholas Alahverdian has also petitioned governments around the world to recognize and commemorate the Armenian Genocide. He even successfully acquired a Proclamation from the Office of the Mayor of a city that has a history of Armenian Genocide denial.

As a young man, Nicholas made it his mission to ensure that he had a safe place to live. After all, Alahverdian was working as a legislative aide for the Rhode Island House of Representatives. He was merely 14 years old at the time.

Nicholas Alahverdian as a young man

Unfortunately, nefarious individuals such as Governor Donald Carcieri (who personally knew Nicholas Alahverdian), DCYF director Jay Lindgren, Judge Jeremiah S. Jeremiah, and others viewed Nicholas Alahverdian as a publicity threat. This was because of Alahverdian’s political activism and media coverage. Nicholas was not permitted to attend school or do anything that would have been indicative of being a healthy adolescent.

It later turned out that Tassoni never even had a law degree or an undergraduate degree for that matter. What is especially concerning is that Tassoni acted as an officer of the court, made administrative decisions, and even mediated divorce and child custody cases.

When Nicholas Alahverdian discovered David Tassoni’s fraud and threatened to take it to the press, Judge Jeremiah, Governor Carcieri, Director Lindgren, and others decided it was time to do something to prevent Nicholas Alahverdian from discovering the widespread corruption in the Carcieri administration and Rhode Island judiciary that would make Richard Nixon blush.

Lt Gov Dan McKee and Nicholas Alahverdian

The political activism of Nicholas Alahverdian

Nicholas Alahverdian was extensively profiled in The Providence Journal and on 630 WPRO, WPRI 12, ABC 6, and NBC 10. He began to speak out about the abuse and neglect that he suffered when he was placed in night-to-night placements. As a result, state officials tried get him fired from his job as a legislative aide.

The corrupt officials acting at the order of Judge Jeremiah located two facilities hundreds of miles from Rhode Island. Both of these facilities had grand jury indictments issued against them for severe torture inflicted upon their clients and patients.

They also had long track records of abuse and negligence as will be proven by state records and newspaper articles. We will publish them on this website.

Realizing that he was a victim of abuse in the infamous night-to-night program, he reported it to his colleagues in the Rhode Island House of Representatives and the Senate.

When the elected officials began to ask questions, the state officials took action and sent him hundreds of miles away from home to abusive facilities in Nebraska and Florida where he was allowed to contact no one. Not the courts, lawyers, elected officials, his family — anyone.

Torture victim Nicholas Alahverdian

Aftermath of the torture in Nebraska and Florida

The facilities Nicholas Alahverdian was sent to in Nebraska and Florida were atrocious. During the two years he was gone, and in the years thereafter, everything Nicholas Alahverdian said about the Rhode Island DCYF was proven to be true. The child deaths. The night-to-night program. The lack or denial of education. And the torture in the out-of-state facilities.

Judge Jeremiah ended up being the subject of an extensive FBI and Department of Justice investigation and was eventually forced off the bench by the Rhode Island Supreme Court.

This website

This website will contain all documents publicly available about the Nicholas Alahverdian torture case and its aftermath. The issues brought to light surround torture in RI DCYF state care by Nicholas will not go unforgotten, and significant changes are being made. It is all thanks to Alahverdian’s political activism and extensive media coverage that these changes are finally coming to the surface.

Former State Representative, Pawtucket Police Captain, and current East Providence Mayor Bob DaSilva and Nicholas Alahverdian

Rhode Island owes it to its foster children and orphans to be provided with a safe, secure home where they are treated with dignity and respect. An education, healthcare, and a safe home are not privileges — they are rights. That is what Nicholas Alahverdian stood for and he was tortured and cut off from the world for his political activism. No child will ever have to suffer what he did thanks to his bravery and courage.

Seamus Heaney and Nicholas Alahverdian

Latest

— Proof that Rhode Island State Officials knew that former House of Representatives employee Nicholas Alahverdian, a publicity threat since being interviewed by The Providence Journal, NBC, ABC, and CBS News, was being sent as a youth to a facility where he would be tortured by convicted felons and kept away from the outside world here, here, here, and here.